Ancient Greek Education

The Greeks have been the pioneers in many fields ranging from Medicine to the Olympics. Ancient Greek history is crammed with interesting revelations of how it all started. The Greek culture stands as an eminent culture having its influence over many civilizations that followed. It carries a certain charm that invites us to know more about it. The Ancient Greeks have significant contributions in various fields including politics mythology architecture science medicine education philosophy art entertainment language war and culture. The Greeks have also inspired the way education is seen today. In ancient times even around 500 BC education was a part of Greece and schooling was wide spread as hinted from the painted vases found from that era. Boys and girls from that eon would start going to school at the age of seven. The education years ranged from basic three year education up to ten years.

There were three types of mentors who taught pupils different skills. The grammatistes were the teachers of arithmetic and literature while the paidotribes took care of co curricular activities like wrestling boxing and gymnastics. There were also kitharistes who were actually the music teachers. If we look at our current education system it looks more like an updated version of the Greek education system. The Greek Education system kept evolving from there. The basic system was taken to a higher level where pupils went to academy for higher education. The Academy was actually a school of Philosophy which was actually originated by Plato. Then Aristotle came along with a relatively assorted approach that he called Lyceum. His approach entailed a more sophisticated and broader curriculum though the establishment was pretty much like Plato. Our education system might have become really refined but we still owe the basic idea to the Ancient Greek Education.